Muscle recruitment and stone tool use ergonomics across three million years of Palaeolithic technological transitions

Key, Alastair; Farr, Ian; Hunter, Robert; Winter, Samantha L.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102796

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 109 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Rather, cognitive differences between populations (perhaps species) may have prevented the uptake of MP/MSA technologies by some, even when opportunities for the transmission of these technologies occurred. The manual demands of Levallois flaking are not well understood and could also plausibly be greater than that required for Acheulean technologies (even if their use was not [Key et al, 2020]). Certainly, anatomical differences between Late Pleistocene hominin populations could have restricted lithic technological developments (Niewoehner, 2006;Marzke, 2013;Key and Lycett, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic

Key

Jarić

Roberts

2021

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Acheulean is the longest cultural tradition ever practised by humans, lasting for over 1.5 million years. Yet, its end has never been accurately dated; only broad 300–150 thousand years ago (Kya) estimates exist. Here we use optimal linear estimation modelling to infer the extinction dates of the Acheulean at global and continental levels. In Africa and the Near East the Acheulean is demonstrated to end between 175 and 166 Kya. In Europe it is inferred to end between 141 and 130 Kya. The Acheulean’s extinction in Asia occurs later (57–53 Kya), while global models vary depending on how archaeological sites are selected (107–29 Kya). These models demonstrate the Acheulean to have remained a distinct cultural tradition long after the inception of Middle Palaeolithic technologies in multiple continental regions. The complexity of this scenario mirrors the increasingly dynamic nature of the Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil record, suggesting contemporaneous hominin populations to have practised distinct stone-tool traditions.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic

Key

Jarić

Roberts

2021

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Accurate interpretations of rBV/TV differences in the wrists (including some of the variation seen within the results of this study) of H. sapiens and Neandertals will likely require a greater understanding of wrist postures across variable tool use behaviors. For instance, wrist flexion is rarely used during stone tool manufacture (Williams et al, 2010, 2014; Williams‐Hatala et al, 2021), although it is used for scraping during hide preparation (Key et al, 2020). Interestingly, Arene Candide 2 had higher rBV/TV in the palmar aspect of their proximal capitate than was typical for our recent H. sapiens sample, possibly indicating frequent use of wrist flexion, as the lunate and palmar capitate head are congruent in this posture (Edirisinghe et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trabecular bone structure of the proximal capitate in extant hominids and fossil hominins with implications for midcarpal joint loading and the dart‐thrower's motion

Bird

Kivell

Dunmore

et al. 2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectivesThis research examines whether the distribution of trabecular bone in the proximal capitates of extant hominids, as well as several fossil hominin taxa, is associated with the oblique path of the midcarpal joint known as the dart‐thrower's motion (DTM).Materials and MethodsWe analyzed proximal capitates from extant (Pongo n = 12; Gorilla n = 11; Pan n = 10; fossil and recent Homo sapiens n = 29) and extinct (Australopithecus sediba n = 2; Homo naledi n = 1; Homo floresiensis n = 2; Neandertals n = 3) hominids using a new canonical holistic morphometric analysis, which quantifies and visualizes the distribution of trabecular bone using relative bone volume as a fraction of total volume (rBV/TV).ResultsHomo sapiens and Neandertals had a continuous band of high rBV/TV that extended across the scaphoid, lunate, and hamate subarticular regions, but other fossil hominins and extant great apes did not. A. sediba expressed a distinct combination of human‐like and Pan‐like rBV/TV distribution. Both H. floresiensis and H. naledi had high rBV/TV on the ulnar‐side of the capitate but low rBV/TV on the radial‐side.ConclusionThe proximal capitates of H. sapiens and Neandertals share a distinctive distribution of trabecular bone that suggests that these two species of Homo regularly load(ed) their midcarpal joints along the full extent of the oblique path of the DTM. The observed pattern in A. sediba suggests that human‐like stress at the capito‐scaphoid articular surface was combined with Pan‐like wrist postures, whereas the patterns in H. floresiensis and H. naledi suggest their midcarpal joints were loaded differently from that of H. sapiens and Neandertals.

show abstract

“…The human deep past further promotes studies of the co-evolutionary interplay and trade-off dynamics between biological, environmental and material factors (e.g. Key et al 2020), refining our grasp on the role of object ecologies and material tendencies in the making of different surviving and fossil humanities (e.g. Neanderthals, Denisovans, etc.).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materiality, Agency and Evolution of Lithic Technology: an Integrated Perspective for Palaeolithic Archaeology

Hussain

Will

2020

J Archaeol Method Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Considerations of materiality and object-oriented approaches have greatly influenced the development of archaeological theory in recent years. Yet, Palaeolithic archaeology has been slow in incorporating this emerging body of scholarship and exploring its bearing on the human deep past. This paper probes into the potential of materiality theory to clarify the material dynamics of the Plio-Pleistocene and seeks to re-articulate the debate on the evolution of our species with materiality discourses in archaeology and the humanities more broadly. We argue that the signature temporalities and geospatial scales of observation provided by the Palaeolithic record offer unique opportunities to examine the active role of material things, objects, artefacts and technologies in the emergence, stabilisation and transformation of hominin lifeworlds and the accretion of long-term trajectories of material culture change. We map three axes of human-thing relations-ecological, technical and evolutionary-and deploy a range of case studies from the literature to show that a critical re-assessment of material agency not only discloses novel insights and questions, but can also refine what we already know about the human deep past. Our exploration underscores the benefits of de-centring human behaviour and intentionality and demonstrates that materiality lends itself as a productive nexus of exchange and mutual inspiration for diverging schools and research interests in Palaeolithic archaeology. An integrated object-oriented perspective calls attention to the human condition as a product of millennial-scale humanthing co-adaptation, in the course of which hominins, artefacts and technologies continuously influenced and co-created each other.

show abstract

Muscle recruitment and stone tool use ergonomics across three million years of Palaeolithic technological transitions

Abstract: The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.

Cited by 17 publications

References 109 publications

Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic

Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic

Trabecular bone structure of the proximal capitate in extant hominids and fossil hominins with implications for midcarpal joint loading and the dart‐thrower's motion

Materiality, Agency and Evolution of Lithic Technology: an Integrated Perspective for Palaeolithic Archaeology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About